Some AYN Thor owners report persistent OLED image retention days after delivery

The honeymoon period for AYN’s Thor handheld has hit an unexpected snag. Some early adopters are experiencing noticeable image retention on their OLED screens within just days of receiving their devices.

Reddit user Boar85 kicked off the discussion in the r/SBCGaming subreddit three days ago, posting a video showing the AYN logo ghosting on the top screen after minimal use. “Anything bright shown on the top screen for more than a few seconds is retained,” they explained.

The response from AYN’s support team added fuel to the fire. When Boar85 reached out about the problem, they received what can only be described as a head-scratching reply.

Support claimed what users were seeing wasn’t image retention at all, but rather “a watermark within our interface” that would be removed in an upcoming OTA update. The explanation raised eyebrows across the community, especially since the supposed “watermark” appears to mimic whatever content was recently displayed on screen.

Here’s a screenshot of the response:

To be clear, what owners are experiencing appears to be temporary image retention rather than permanent burn-in, which typically takes much longer to develop.

Image retention occurs when pixels don’t immediately return to their neutral state after displaying static content, causing ghosting effects that can linger for minutes or even hours. However, Boar85 notes that even after running pixel refresh tests, “a lot of it doesn’t” clear up, and “anything white displayed on the screen gets immediately retained.”

Other Thor owners in the comments have reported similar experiences. User iH8Ecchi mentioned their White Pro model exhibits the same behavior, though they also tested it against their Flip 2 and found the retention “often isn’t as heavy and would go away faster.” This suggests AYN may have sourced different or lower-quality OLED panels for the Thor compared to competing devices like the Retroid Pocket 5 or Odin 2 Portal.

One commenter, jmak329, offered a possible explanation: these Chinese manufacturers often use repurposed OLED screens from other products rather than sourcing brand-new panels, which would be prohibitively expensive. While most should be using leftover stock rather than truly recycled screens, it’s possible some units slipped through with panels that already had some wear.

For his part, Boar85 plans to open a PayPal case to return the device if AYN doesn’t provide a satisfactory resolution. They noted that they don’t see the same retention issues on their Retroid Pocket 5, Portal, or DMG devices, all of which also feature OLED screens.

Whether this turns out to be an isolated batch of defective panels or a more widespread problem remains to be seen. What’s certain is that AYN’s response hasn’t inspired confidence.

We’ll keep an eye out for any further developments and will post an update if there’s something to share. Meanwhile, if you’ve picked up an AYN Thor, feel free to let us know if you’ve encountered any similar display issues on your unit in the comments below.